Joel Babbit (born August 11, 1953) is an American marketing executive and entrepreneur. He is CEO of Narrative Content Group, which he co-founded in 2009 with

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

keyboardist

Chuck Leavell Charles Alfred Leavell (born April 28, 1952) is an American musician. A member of the Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the band Sea Level. He has served as the pri ...

Early life and education

Babbit was born in Atlanta, Georgia." He attended the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

, graduating in 1976 with a degree in advertising. He received the university's John Holliman Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

Career

The majority of Babbit's career has been spent in the advertising agency business, working with clients including

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., often referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportat ...

RJR Nabisco R. J. Reynolds Nabisco, Inc., doing business as RJR Nabisco, was an American conglomerate, selling tobacco and food products, headquartered in the Calyon Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. R. J. Reynolds Nabisco stopped ...

and

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is an American multinational corporation, multinational package delivery, shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializi ...

. Babbit began working at

McCann Erickson McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in over 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McC ...

in 1978," and would later be executive vice president of Chiat/Day and president of WPP's GCI Group. He co-founded Babbit & Reiman Advertising with business partner Joey Reiman, and was CEO while it became one of the largest advertising agencies in the U.S. Southeast. In 1988, it was acquired by London-based Gold Greenlees Trott. Babbit also co-founded 360, a marketing firm later acquired by WPP's

Grey Global Group Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities. It is organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asi ...

."" Babbit has been profiled by a variety of national and international media outlets, including Forbes, Advertising Age, Fortune," The New York Times, Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Narrative Content Group

Babbit is CEO of Narrative Content Group." Founded in 2009 by Babbit and Leavell, its equity partners include

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

and

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Cha ...

. The company creates, publishes and distributes content for brands that have included

Aflac Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company) is an American insurance company and is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States. It was founded in 1955 and is based in Columbus, Georgia. In the U.S., it ...

, AT&T,

Bacardi Bacardi Limited ( , , ) is the largest privately held, family-owned spirits company in the world. Originally known for its Bacardí brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. Founded in Cuba in 1862 by Facund ...

, The Coca-Cola Company,

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

Georgia-Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of Tissue paper, tissue, Pulp (paper), pulp, paper, toilet and paper towe ...

and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

. Narrative owned

TreeHugger ''TreeHugger'' is a sustainability website that reports on news, and other subjects like eco-friendly design, homes, and gardens. It was rated the top sustainability blog of 2007 by Nielsen Netratings, and was included in ''Time'' Magazine's ...

and Mother Nature Network, the company's flagship property, which was ranked by

Alexa Internet Alexa Internet, Inc. was a web traffic analysis company based in San Francisco, California. It was founded as an independent company by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat in 1996. Alexa provided web traffic data, global rankings, and other info ...

as the most visited for-profit website in the world in its environmental category. Through MNN, and in partnership with

Southern Company Southern Company is an American gas and electric utility holding company based in the Southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices located in Birmingham, Alabama. As of 2021 it is the second largest ut ...

, Babbit and Leavell also created and produced the White House Correspondents' Jam, which was held annually in Washington, D.C." In February of 2020, Narrative sold Treehugger and Mother Nature Network to digital media company

DotDash Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

, an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IAC).

Civic involvement

Following Atlanta’s selection to host the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, Babbit took a leave of absence from the private sector and was appointed by Mayor

Maynard Jackson Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. (March 23, 1938 – June 23, 2003) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 52nd mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 1974 to 1982, and again as the city's 54th mayor from 1990 to 1994. A member of the ...

to be the city’s first chief marketing and communications officer. He also was a member of the mayor's cabinet. Babbit has done pro bono work for organizations such as the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

, the

King Center for Nonviolent Social Change The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, commonly known as The King Center, is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. History The King Center was founded in 1968 by Coretta Scott Ki ...

United Way of America United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual United Ways mobilize a sin ...

, Boys & Girls Club and the

United Nations Foundation The United Nations Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., that supports the United Nations and its activities. It was established in 1998 with a $1billion gift to the United Nations by philanthropist Ted Turn ...

. He wrote and produced a 2015

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

video about road rage starring former professional boxer

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...

," which has been viewed more than 32 million times on YouTube (as of February 2022). Babbit has been active in civic and non-profit organizations, including the Young Presidents' Organization, the CDC Foundation, the

Atlanta History Center The Atlanta History Center is a history museum and research center located in the Buckhead (Atlanta), Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The Museum was founded in 1926, and has a large campus featuring historic gardens a ...

and the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

. He is a director of

Primerica Primerica, Inc. is a multi-level marketing company that provides insurance, Investment management, investment and financial services to middle-income families in the United States and Canada. Primerica is the parent company of National Bene ...

(NYSE: PRI) and GreenSky (NASDAQ: GSKY).

References

External links

Narrative Content GroupMother Nature Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Babbit, Joel Living people 1953 births